Item #68482 Levogyrate Tantra. DADAJI, Mahendranath, Shri Vilasanath, John Power, Shri Dadaji Gurudev Mahendranath, From the David Tibet collection.

Levogyrate Tantra.

Chelmsford, Essex UK: Phoenix Publications, 1980. First Edition Thus. Softcover booklet. Octavo. iii + 18pp (pagination and text start on inside front cover). Pale brown stapled card covers with titling and illustration in black on cover, text printed on blue, yellow and white paper, appendices, b&w illustrations. The booklet starts with an interesting 3 page Introduction by Shri Vilasanath (John Power) which contains considerable biographical information on Dadaji, including brief references to his friendship with Gerald Gardner and studies under Aleister Crowley. Their follows Dadaji's "Levogyrate Tantra", a collection of tantric magico-mystical instructions and aphorisms in prose and verse: "The Isagogue Paramount of the Lords and Ladies of the Arcane Adytum of the Oriental Tantrik Order (O.T.O.)." That these initials are no coincidence is suggested by a reference in the first paragraph to the "Astrolabon Argentum (A.A.)." From the library of British artist, writer and musician DAVID TIBET (founder of the music group Current 93) with his small, early ownership signature (as David Bunting) and acquisiion date on (17-VIII-81ev) in the upper margin of the first page. The author, Dadaji: Shri Paramahamsha Mahendranath (born Lawrence Amos Miles: 1911-1991), was an Englishman who is said to have had a youthful acquaintance with Aleister Crowley and who in later life embraced Indic religion and Tantrism. He spent many years in India, becoming a guru of the northern Indian Uttarakaula Tantric Order having received initiation under Shri Pagala Baba of Ranchi, Bihar. He then became a teacher himself, with his instruction - often delivered aphoristic prose and poetry - fusing traditional eastern Tantric and religious philosophies and practices with Western magical techniques. In later life he returned to England, where his teachings formed the basis for the Arcane Magical Order of the Knights of Shambhala (AMOOKOS), an occult order founded in 1982 by Michael Magee (Lokanath Maharaj) which gave training to a number of now well-known figures before succumbing to the seemingly inevitable divisions that plague such groups. Modest "fanzine" type production values. Wrappers show light ordinary wear & aging, edges a bit chafed and darkened, light vertical crease to upper cover, some staple rust. A clean VG copy, Item #68482

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